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Current SPUR Mentors

All SPUR mentors have active research labs at graduate or undergraduate institutions. You can click each mentor’s name in the columns below to learn more about his/her research. To email a mentor, please click his/her name in the column, then click his/her name again above the “About My Research” section.

Lisa Barrett, Northeastern UniversityAbout My Research: What is emotion? Our research addresses that question from both psychological and neuroscience perspectives, ultimately working toward a general framework for understanding how the brain creates the mind. Our lab uses experiential, behavioral, psychophysiological, and brain-imaging techniques to investigate hypotheses emerging from the theory of constructed emotion.Additional Information: More details can be found on our website: http://www.affective-science.orgBack to Top

Elliot Berkman, University of OregonAbout My Research: The Social and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Oregon studies the motivation and cognitive factors underlying self-regulation. Our methods include functional neuroimaging, laboratory experiments, and longitudinal experience sampling and intervention approaches. Ultimately, our research aims to identify effective new pathways for health behavior change. The University of Oregon, its Department of Psychology, and the Social and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory are committed to increasing diversity and inclusiveness in research and teaching. We were thrilled to read about this program and are excited to be a part of it!Back to Top

Frank Bernieri, Oregon State UniversityAbout My Research: We analyze the nonverbal behavior in face-to-face interactions and examine issues of first impression accuracy, the impact of trait empathy on rapport, and the predictive utility of specific behavior patterns on various social/relationship outcomes. see lab webpage: http://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/school-psychological-science/islAdditional Information: I've been a past mentor in NSF's REU program (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) and was the first researcher at Oregon State University to receive its Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year award.Back to Top

Monica Biernat, University of KansasAbout My Research: We study how stereotypes affect judgments of individual group members; e.g., how race and gender matter for social judgment, particularly in academic and work settings. We highlight the use of stereotypes as judgment standards, and the role of communication in promoting and disrupting stereotype use. The University of Kansas has a great group of Social Psychology faculty and graduate students, and opportunities would be available for cross-lab interactions.Back to Top

Eliza Bliss-Moreau, University of California, DavisAbout My Research: My laboratory explores questions related to the development and evolution of affect and emotion in a social context. We conduct both translational and comparative science by studying both nonhuman primates and humans. We are particularly interested in how individuals' social roles within their social networks relate to affective reactivity. My laboratory is based at the California National Primate Research Center at UC Davis. As a result, students who join the laboratory will need to undergo a background check, fairly extensive screening, and show proof of measles immunity (vaccine or titre) and be TB free. elizablissmoreau.comBack to Top

Paul Bloom, Yale UniversityAbout My Research: Much of my research explores moral psychology—looking at morality in babies, our developing intuitions about moral responsibility, and the role that anger, disgust, and empathy play in our moral lives. Other ongoing projects explore beliefs about fate and free will, the psychology of atheists, and common-sense dualism.Back to Top

Courtney Bonam,University of Illinois at ChicagoAbout My Research: My research focuses on race as a social process. I study race as it relates to these broad topics: Social Identity Threat, Interracial Interactions, Stereotyping, Prejudice & Discrimination, Social Perception, Social Justice Issues & Social Policies, and Environmental Inequality & Environmental Justice. Read more here: https://sites.google.com/a/psch.uic.edu/bonam-lab/home

Kirk Warren Brown, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityAbout My Research: My research program focuses on the self- and emotion-regulatory consequences of mindfulness. My graduate and undergraduate students and I conduct mindfulness-based and mindfulness-integrated experiments and training trials with both adults and adolescents using first-person, ecological momentary assessment, and particularly brain imaging (EEG, fMRI) methods. My Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab website: www.kirkwarrenbrown.vcu.eduBack to Top

Amy Brunell, Ohio State University at MansfieldAbout My Research: Broadly, the focus of my research is on self processes and social contexts. I have primarily focused on investigating narcissism as a lens for understanding behavior, such as risk-taking and moral/ethical behavior (e.g., cheating). My second line of research investigates dating relationships. Ohio State University at Mansfield is a regional campus of Ohio State University and is located about 60 miles northeast of Columbus, Ohio. OSU Mansfield is primarily an undergraduate institution; faculty are expected to have active programs of research.Back to Top

Jeni Burnette, North Carolina State UniversityAbout My Research: Dr. Burnette primarily studies how growth mindsets (believing attributes can change) help to reduce the negative implications of competing drives and stigma for self-regulation in domains relevant for physical and psychological well-being. She explores these issues using diverse research designs, ranging from interventions to basic experimental methods to longitudinal surveys.Back to Top

Cheryl Carmichael, Brooklyn College, CUNYAbout My Research: I study close relationships, health, and the social regulation of emotions. In my lab, we use experimental and daily diary approaches to examine how verbal and nonverbal relationship behavior (such as sharing positive news and providing social support) impact relationship quality, emotional well-being, and physical health.Back to Top

Bettina Casad, University of Missouri-St. LouisAbout My Research: My research program investigate the mechanisms linking experiences of stigma to psychological well-being, cognitive performance, educational and career achievements, and physical health. Projects implement multiple measures including self-report, implicit, non-verbal, behavioral, physiological measures (blood pressure, heart rate variability, impedance cardiography, facial EMG), and EEG. I have a long history of mentoring undergraduate students in research, including participating in the McNair program, which focuses on training underrepresented students.Back to Top

Joseph Cesario,Michigan State UniversityAbout My Research: We study cognitive modeling of decision-making and how various factors (e.g., race, SES) impact the decision process. Currently studying race bias in the decision to shoot using an immersive shooting simulator in our lab and collecting data with law enforcement. See http://www.cesariolab.com/research for more information.

Sapna Cheryan, University of WashingtonAbout My Research: We examine how cultural stereotypes impact choices, behaviors, and sense of belonging. Our two current main lines of work investigate 1) how stereotypes of STEM fields influence gender disparities, and 2) how to broaden our understanding of racial dynamics to incorporate the experience of recent immigrant groups. We have an active lab in the summer, including running participants, lab meetings, and tutorials. For more information about our lab, visit our lab web page at: http://depts.washington.edu/sibl/.Back to Top

David Chester, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityAbout My Research: My lab seeks to understand the causes of aggressive behavior. Towards this end we combine self-report, behavior, and neuroimaging approaches to study aggression. This summer, we will be conducting an exciting new project that uses functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the brain basis of intimate partner violence.Additional Information: Richmond VA is a wonderfully diverse and exciting city and VCU is a premier research institution. Visiting students are able to take full advantage of these settings while they are participating in our lab.Back to Top

Nancy Collins, University of California, Santa BarbaraAbout My Research: My work focuses on the mechanisms through which romantic couples seek and provide social support. Using experimental and observational methods, we study empathy (feelings of empathic concern for one's partner and empathic accuracy or "mind-reading"), self-disclosure, and emotional expression in the context of social support interactions. I would love to work with interested students this summer!Back to Top

Chris Crandall, University of KansasAbout My Research: Our lab focuses on the cognitive processes that influence the expression of beliefs, attitudes, and values. We study how biases in normal cognitive functioning lead to political ideology, how we can harbor prejudice but still feel moral, and how the love of hierarchy can slip into our egalitarian souls. The Social Psychology program at the University of Kansas is extremely collaborative. Students work with several faculty members, faculty work with each other, and students collaborate with students. We provide a non-competitive opportunity to learn, discuss, debate, and excel. Students would have an opportunity to interact with faculty whose interests include stereotyping, metaphor and thought, intergroup relations, personal relationships, attachment, social influence and energy consumption, social judgment, inequality, and much more. Students would become part of a research and support network.Back to Top

Travis Crone, University of Houston-DowntownAbout My Research: I explore nonconscious priming in several ways. I am currently researching power and embodied cognition, religious priming and belief, morality, and the underlying cognitive mechanisms of nonconscious goal priming. During the academic year, I also explore the effect of teaching styles on student performance and other outcomes. Students working with me can expect to get in the lab experience as well as out of the lab data collection experience.Back to Top

Amber DeBono, Winston-Salem State UniversityAbout My Research: We conduct research on how rejection affects thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. We also examine how beliefs about God impact moral behaviors. Our lab is also investigating how attributing positive events to God affect the self. Finally, we are creating a scale to measure considerateness. I have mentored paid undergraduates over the summer at Winston-Salem State in the past (in addition to the 4-6 research assistants during the school year). I'm looking forward to expanding my mentorship to students outside of our university. I am also enthusiastic about giving back to SPSP!Back to Top

Jaye Derrick,University of HoustonAbout My Research: My primary research areas include the influence of close relationships (including faux or parasocial relationships with social surrogates) on self-regulation, well-being, health, health behaviors, and addictive behaviors; the influence of substance use on close relationship functioning and intimate partner aggression; and ambulatory assessment (e.g., daily diary and EMA) research methods.Additional Information: For more information about our lab, see: https://sites.google.com/site/socialprocesseslab/homeBack to Top

Eugene Emory,Emory UniversityAbout My Research: My research involves social/behavioral aspects of reproductive health among expectant mothers. Our paradigm involves behavioral assessment of fetal/neonatal activity and bio-psycho-social aspects of maternal emotional health. We maintain a basic research emphasis on fundamental processes that affect fetal/neonatal social and neurobehavioral development in the context to maternal psycho-social well-being.Additional Information:I have mentored dozens of undergraduate honors students, numerous doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows, many funded by external sources such as NIH and NSF. I have received teaching and mentoring awards and scientific recognition at the national and international level. Many of my former students are active researchers or practicing clinicians in fields related to personality and social emotional development. Over the years my laboratory has published work on the effects of psycho-social stress and developmental outcome, impact of perinatal insults on neurobehavioral development and the effects of mindfulness meditation on reducing maternal stress during pregnancy. In addition some of these studies have involved women with serious mental health challenges such as schizophrenia, depression and personality disorders.

Sally Farley, University of BaltimoreAbout My Research: My research interests generally lie at the intersection of nonverbal communication and relationship science. I am interested in nonverbal behaviors that both facilitate and maintain relational intimacy and attraction (vocal cues, mimicry, laughter). My recent projects have investigated gossip as a social bonding mechanism, social ostracism, and vocal gaydar. I am deeply invested in undergraduate student research mentorship. My research lab is dominated by undergraduate students, several of whom are co-authors on my current and previous manuscripts, paper presentations, and poster presentations. I am excited about this opportunity!Back to Top

Jennifer Fugate, University of MA – DartmouthAbout My Research: Here at the SOCOlab we study emotion categories. My research projects fall under four major questions: 1) How do emotion words affect emotion perception? 2) How do words create discrete emotion categories ? 3) Is there universality of emotion categories? 4) How does learning emotion words increase emotional intelligence? https://fugatejennifer.wordpress.com/ The SOCOlab (Social Cognition on the South Coast) is located on the beautiful south coast of MA at the University of MA- Dartmouth, 20 miles from Cape Code and 5 miles from some of the most beautiful beaches in the Northeast. The University affords all the opportunities of a large, research university with a more home-town feel. The University is 35 miles from Providence, RI and 60 miles from Boston, MA.Back to Top

Shelly Gable, University of California, Santa BarbaraAbout My Research: We conduct research on the role of motivation and emotion in close relationships. We look at how approach and avoidance goals simultaneously influence close relationship processes and outcomes. We also examine social emotion regulation and how others play a role in coping (or not) with negative and positive events. Santa Barbara is a lovely place to visit and UCSB has wonderful cohort of social psychology faculty and graduate students.Back to Top

Amber M. Gaffney, Humboldt State UniversityAbout My Research: My research focuses on social identity, group processes and social influence. A large part of my work examines how prototypical and non-prototypical group members can create and manage uncertainty to enact social change. I would be excited to invite curious students to bring innovative ideas to my lab and research. My lab has graduate and undergraduate students who all share a passion for research. We value new opinions and perspectives, which will will add to the strength and creativity of ideas that we produce. We have several on-going projects that focus on how political leaders and social groups use uncertainty as a tool for influence.Back to Top

Sarah Gaither, Duke UniversityAbout My Research: Broadly, I study how social identities and experiences motivate social behavior in diverse settings. Specifically, how contact with diverse others shapes social interactions, how having multiple racial or multiple social identities affects behavior and categorization, and what contexts shape the development of racial perceptions and biases from childhood through adulthood.Additional Information: For more information about my research: https://sites.duke.edu/dukeidlab/Back to Top

Wendi Gardner, Northwestern UniversityAbout My Research: We focus on self/identity as well as belonging and exclusion. A SPUR undergraduate would be involved in studies involving how individuals and/or couples form and maintain positive identities in the face of social stressors. Tasks would likely include interviews, running experiments, and video or text data coding and analysis.Back to Top

Sharon Glazer, University of BaltimoreAbout My Research: My applied research focuses on socio-technical and personality factors that moderate the relationship between work-related stressors and psychological, behavioral, and physiological ill-health. To mentor students on the research topic, I begin by learning about the student assistant's educational and career goals and then present several different projects that I have at various stages that might best fit the student's professional growth. Though I propose the above focus, the student may be interested in other studies I have. Should the project look promising and the student is excited about it, I would also leave the door open for the student to continue working with me. After identifying the end goal, I work with the student to establish a project plan and timeline, with manageable milestones that help show the student his/her progress on the project. For example, by the conclusion of our first meeting, the student assistant will have a few articles to read to help him/her begin to immerse into the research project. After a few days, we will discuss the articles, their relevance, and the student's level of understanding. From there we will begin to fill in an article outline with contents from a literature review, identify theoretical foundations of the research, articulate the study hypotheses, and so forth. Depending on the research topic the student takes interest in, the research will range from an embryonic stage to a writing up results and finessing/polishing stage.Back to Top

Jesse Graham, USCAbout My Research: We study the moral, ideological, and religious principles that cause so much conflict and yet provide so much meaning to people's lives. For more on the USC Values, Ideology, and Morality lab, see www-bcf.usc.edu/~jessegra/index.html/ I am interested in co-mentoring students with graduate student Carol Iskiwitch.Back to Top

Kurt Gray, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillAbout My Research: You have a mind, but what about a cow or a computer? Can they think and feel like you? This is important because entities with minds are afforded moral status. We study how people see the minds of others, and how this "mind perception" underlies our most crucial moral judgments.Back to Top

Hal Hershfield,UCLA Anderson School of ManagementAbout My Research: Broadly, I’m interested in how individuals perceive the passage of time and how such perceptions influence decision-making and consumer behavior. I focus on the connections that people feel between their current selves and their future selves, and how research can enhance those connections.Back to Top

Edward Hirt, Indiana UniversityAbout My Research: My research generally concentrates on issues related to motivation and performance. My primary current line of research focuses on mental depletion and its consequences for subsequent performance and acts of self-control. We also have work investigating self-handicapping, exploring the tradeoffs inherent in protecting self-esteem in threatening performance contexts.Additional Information: Our lab is a highly collegial and colloborative environment which values the input of all members. The goal is to make this experience the most productive and beneficial for you personally in your growth as a social psychology researcher.Back to Top

Kurt Hugenberg,Miami UniversityAbout My Research: Our team focuses on intergroup relations and person perception. We investigate various questions about how we "read" others' faces, bodies, and behaviors, such as how race biases how we read others' expression or detect others lies. We're excited to work with curious students who operate well in a team-oriented environment.Back to Top

Derek Isaacowitz, Northeastern UniversityAbout My Research: My lab uses a variety of methods (including mobile eye tracking, stationary eye tracking, and psychophysiology) to investigate adult age differences in emotion regulation and social perception. We tend to have a pretty large group of students in the lab each summer.Back to Top

Rachael Jack, Institution of Neuroscience & Psychology, University of Glasgow, UK About My Research: My research focuses on social communication – i.e., the transmission and decoding of signals (e.g., facial expressions) for social interaction within and across cultures. I use an interdisciplinary approach combining social psychology, psychophysics, information theory, social robotics. Work published in Ann. Rev. Psychol., PNAS, Current Biology, JEP:Gen, Psychological Science.Additional Information: MATLAB programming is an essential skill to work in my lab, so opportunities would be provided to learn this, plus a range of multivariate techniques that are typically used to analyse high dimensional data such as dynamic facial expressions and 3D face morphology and complexion. I also have a state-of-the-art face capture system (www.di4d.com) that students would gain hands on experience with.Back to Top

Jay Jackson,Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW)About My Research: The research in my lab primarily focuses on the causes, dynamics, and consequences of positive and negative intergroup relations. This includes the study prejudice, stereotypes, discrimination, social dilemmas, social identity issues, and intergroup contact experiences. My students and I typically examine how person and situational variables jointly affect these variables.Additional Information: IPFW is located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, about two hours north of Indianapolis. It is a moderate sized-university of about 13,000 students, mostly undergraduates. The department of psychology does not have a graduate program, so I have a lot of experience working with and mentoring undergraduate students. My intergroup relations lab is quite active and my students routinely present at the Midwestern Psychological Association.Back to Top

Jeremy Jamieson, University of RochesterAbout My Research: My research program includes two core areas of study: emotion regulation and effects of social stress on risk decisions. To answer research questions my lab uses autonomic and neuroendocrine psychophysiological measures to elucidate how social stress processes, such as discrimination, social evaluative threat, and competition, impact downstream affective, performance, and health outcomes.Back to Top

Lisa Jaremka, University of DelawareAbout My Research: I utilize a social psychological approach to understand the effects of social disconnection on motivation, physiology, and health. My expertise lies at the interface between physiology and psychology with a specialization in psychoneuroimmunology and psychoneuroendocrinology.Additional Information: Students in my lab would learn a wide array of tasks, ranging from running participants, to cleaning data, to developing and perfecting study procedures.Back to Top

Peter Jonason, Western Sydney UniversityAbout My Research: My work examines personality (e.g., Dark Triad traits) and interpersonal relationships from an evolutionary perspective (see www.peterjonason.com). During this internship you might work on projects attempting to answer some fundamental questions like “what are personality traits really measuring” and “what are the psychological mechanisms behind mate choice”.Back to Top

Cheryl Kaiser, University of WashingtonAbout My Research: Our laboratory explores the intersection of self and social identity, particularly when the worth of one’s social identity (e.g., race, gender) is called into question by stereotypes/discrimination. This research develops theoretical perspectives on social stigma, legitimacy, identity, and diversity, and connects social psychology with law, political science, and sociology.Back to Top

Lucas Keefer, University of Southern MississippiAbout My Research: My research primarily explores the role of conceptual metaphor as a means of understanding abstract features of the social world, such as political issues and the mental lives of other people. This research draws upon an interdisciplinary perspective bridging psychology, philosophy, and linguistics.Back to Top

Laura King, University of Missouri, ColumbiaAbout My Research: I am a personality/social psychologist who spends her time thinking about what it is that makes life meaningful. We have conducted (and continue to conduct) experiments and correlational studies aimed at identifying what people mean when they say their lives are meaningful.Additional Information: Typically in the summer we have a fairly active lab with a couple of graduate students and undergraduates meeting and running studies. It's a lot of fun.Back to Top

Sara Konrath, Indiana University-Purdue University, IndianapolisAbout My Research: In the Interdisciplinary Program of Empathy and Altruism Research (www.ipearlab.org), we examine motivations, traits, and behaviors relevant to helping, charitable giving, volunteering, and other prosocial acts. One current project involves designing and testing an empathy-building smartphone app for teens. The SPUR student will be involved in this and other projects. We are a friendly and cooperative group that includes a professor, graduate students, and undergraduates. We value mentoring and take a growth-oriented approach to learning. We work closely with our students to better understand their goals and to make working in the lab a beneficial and enjoyable experience for them. We are especially mindful of the need for professionalization and CV development opportunities. Indianapolis is a great place to live with many cultural and recreational activities.Back to Top

Amy Krosch, Cornell UniversityAbout My Research: We study social and economic factors that motivate discrimination and the underlying social-cognitive, perceptual, and decision processes that facilitate intergroup inequality. We integrate ideas and methods from experimental social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, behavioral decision-making, and psychophysics. Our research is driven by observed real-world injustice and ultimately aims to inform intervention.Back to Top

Kevin Ladd, Indiana University South BendAbout My Research: Primary focus is on religion and spirituality: prayer practices, ritual as performance, embodiment of spiritual experience (prayer postures; walking labyrinths). Our methods and tools range from eye tracking (SR Research Eye Link 2000) experiments to making movies based on qualitative interviews (Las Vegas buskers reflecting on spirituality in the workplace).Back to Top

Bernhard Leidner, University of MassachusettsAbout My Research: I am a social and political psychologist in the Psychology of Peace and Violence Program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. My research, funded by NSF and others, focuses on intergroup violence, international conflict (reduction) and justice, primarily at the international level (e.g. Israel/Palestine, Balkans).Back to Top

Dana Leighton, Southern Arkansas UniversityAbout My Research: The Peace and Justice Psychology Lab works on intergroup relations, specifically stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. We study the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of peace & justice. We're currently running studies on racial bias in jury selection, sexual harassment over social media, exclusion of immigrants from justice, and mental illness stigma.Additional Information: Southern Arkansas University is located in Magnolia, Arkansas, a rural and safe community of about 12,000 people. Comfortable on-campus housing is available for the SPUR student, and off-campus apartments are available.Back to Top

Christopher Leone, University of North FloridaAbout My Research: My program of research involves the role of (a) individual differences (e.g., need for cognition) in persuasion (e.g., self-generated attitude change), (b) individual differences (e.g., self-monitoring) in close relationships (e.g., dating), and (c) individual differences (e.g., religiosity) in prejudice (e.g., discrimination against gays and lesbians).Additional Information: My research team is comprised of both undergraduate and graduate students. Experienced members of my team serve as peer mentors for less experienced members, and I of course act as a mentor for all of my proteges. In so doing, I have worked with many students from underrepresented ethnic groups who have gone to be successful at the doctoral level. Indeed, virtually all of the undergraduates I have mentored have gone on to doctoral programs including University of Michigan, University of Texas, and Indiana University to name a few. I have one several awards for mentoring from both my home institution as well as professional organisations (e.g., Southeastern Psychological Association). I have also given numerous presentations at meetings of professional organisations on the subject of mentoring.Back to Top

Kristen Lindquist, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillAbout My Research: My lab studies the cognitive and neural mechanisms that generate healthy emotions. To do so, we use a broad set of methods including social cognitive methods, peripheral psychophysiology, neuroimaging, and lesion studies. One on-going line of research addresses age-related changes in the embodiment of emotion. During Summer 2016, we will be conducting a laboratory experiment investigating physiological reactivity during a stressful task. Study participants will be healthy older adults (aged 50-80) recruited from the surrounding community. Up to three students would be welcome for mentorship. Students would be trained as experimenters to help with data collection, and as such would learn several desirable skills, such as how to collect peripheral psychophysiology measures (EKG, cardiac impedance, blood pressure), administer the Trier Social Stress task, measure reaction times and interoceptive accuracy, and work with several experimental packages such as Matlab, Eprime, and Qualtrics. Students would also gain experience in literature work, data coding, data analysis, and research presentation. Interested students can visit our lab website at: www.unc.edu/~kal29/index.htmlBack to Top

Chris Loersch, University of ColoradoAbout My Research: Our laboratory seeks to understand the cognitive processes that influence social judgment, behavior, and motivation outside of conscious awareness. Our research examines the basic cognitive mechanisms that underlie nonconscious processes and the overarching social influences that have shaped these nonconscious processes.Additional Information: For more information, interested applicants should see our lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~chlo0473/index.htmlBack to Top

Debbie Ma, California State University NorthridgeAbout My Research: My research focuses on stereotyping and prejudice, face perception, and social cognition. I have investigated phenomena like racial bias in the decision to shoot and ascriptions of national identity to non-Whites. We are currently studying face perception as it relates to face, such as the cross race effect.Additional Information: Over the summer my lab has biweekly meetings. We have a lot of research projects in different stages of development. I think this would allow a student to gain exposure to many areas of research and learn about the research process. Further, my institution is classified as an undergraduate-serving institution, which makes it a welcoming environment for undergraduate researchers.Back to Top

Christine Ma-Kellams, University of La VerneAbout My Research: My work focuses on cultural social psychology and the role of group membership in dictating outcomes related to emotion and judgment/decision-making. Current projects include: examining class/SES and age as forms of "culture" and testing the situational contexts that make individuals better or worse at reading others.Back to Top

Cara MacInnis, University of CalgaryAbout My Research: I am interested in the way humans interact with one another in our diverse world, focusing on barriers to positive intergroup relations. I study perceptions, behaviors, emotions, and socio-political orientations that serve as barriers to positive intergroup relations and means to overcome barriers to positive intergroup relations and reduce prejudice.Back to Top

Brenda Major, UCSBAbout My Research: My ongoing research examines the impact of perceived ethnic, gender, and weight-based stigma and discrimination on psychological stress, health behaviors, and interpersonal relationships, and the impact of diversity policies and anti-bias norms on intergroup relations and the self-concept.Back to Top

Wendy Berry Mendes, UC San FranciscoAbout My Research: The work in my lab focuses on emotion, intergroup interactions, and biological psychology. Two general themes guide our research: (a) intergroup relations and stigmatization, and (b) effects of emotion on cognitive processing, behavior, and physiology. We use a multi-method approach including physiological responses, non-verbal, cognitive performance, and subjective states. For the past 11 years my lab has held a summer internship program that invites between 10 and 15 undergraduates for an intensive 8-week summer program. The internship program consists of weekly tutorials, training in psychophysiology, and executing studies. The internships ends with a formal presentation from each intern on a proposed research project where they receive both verbal and written evaluations from. This internship is ideal for undergraduates seeking either admissions into psychology graduate programs or medical school.Back to Top

Monica Miller, University of Nevada, RenoAbout My Research: I have a PhD in social psychology; my area is legal psychology. My main interests are in legal decision-making and attitudes. I study how jurors' decisions (and people's support for laws more broadly) are affected by social-cognitive biases, attributions, group processes, prejudice, and individual differences. My CV is available: http://www.unr.edu/criminal-justice/people/monica-millerAdditional Information: I currently work with 8 graduate students who the student could also choose to work with, so there are plenty of different projects going on in our lab at all times.Back to Top

Matt Motyl, University of Illinois at ChicagoAbout My Research: I study social ecology, ideology, intergroup conflict, and morality. My lab uses diverse methods ranging from social interaction studies in-lab to Big Data studies of social media behaviors.Back to Top

Keely Muscatell, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillAbout My Research: Research in the Social Neuroscience and Health Lab at UNC Chapel Hill focuses on understanding how social experiences (e.g., stress, social status, inequality, discrimination, loneliness, social support) influence physical health and emotional well-being, incorporating techniques from social neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology to identify pathways linking the social environment and health outcomes.Additional Information: You can find more information about our lab and the work we do at our lab website, http://carolinasnhlab.com/overview/.Back to Top

Katherine Nelson-Coffey, Sewanee: The University of the SouthAbout My Research: What leads people to live happy and fulfilling lives? How do major life events, such as having children, alter the course of adults' lives and ultimately shape their well-being? These questions are the central focus of my research program.Additional Information: Students will gain experience at every step of the research process, including designing research studies, preparing IRB proposals, facilitating participant involvement in research, and data analysis. We will also incorporate regular discussions regarding applying to graduate school and other future career options in Psychology.Back to Top

Jessica Nolan, University of ScrantonAbout My Research: My research focuses on the application of psychology to understand and solve social problems. One line of research looks at how and when people are willing to impose social sanctions on environmental transgressors. The other line of research looks at how individuals react to feedback indicating that they are prejudiced.Additional Information: Students in my research lab will be involved with all aspects of research design and data analysis. In addition, students will be exposed to laboratory, on-line, and field-based research protocols. The University of Scranton is a private, liberal arts University, with a lovely campus located in walking distance of downtown Scranton, PA.Back to Top

Kymberlee M. O’Brien, Worcester Polytechnic InstituteAbout My Research: My research uses physiological indices to examine acute and chronic stress related social psychological topics, including microaggressions, intergroup processes, discrimination, and social evaluative stress. We also examine the more positive social influences on health and physiology including empathy, social belonging and support. My lab is the Social, Health, and Psychophysiology (SHP) Lab at WPI.Back to Top

Kristina Olson, University of WashingtonAbout My Research: Our lab studies the emergence and development of (1) prejudice and stereotyping and (2) prosocial behavior. Example projects include a study of perceptions and experiences of transgender youth, how children pick up social bias from others, and the motivations that underlie helping and sharing in young children. We organize several professional development talks (e.g., how do you apply to grad school?, what can you do with a Ph.D?) and social events during the summer and would love for our SPUR student to join us in these activities.Back to Top

John Pachankis, Yale UniversityAbout My Research: We study LGBT mental health. Our experimental and epidemiological research specifically seeks to identify factors that might explain LGBT individuals’ disproportionate experiences with several adverse mental health outcomes. We are a team of social and clinical psychologists who aim to translate our research into treatments for the LGBT community.Additional Information: More information about our research can be found at: esteem.yale.eduBack to Top

Sylvia Perry, Northwestern UniversityAbout My Research: We are investigating research questions at the intersection of social cognition and intergroup relations. These include: What are the interpersonal and intergroup consequences of racial bias awareness? How do people perceive those who admit their bias? What are the predictors of White parents’ willingness to discuss race with their children?Back to Top

Cynthia Pickett, University of California, DavisAbout My Research: I conduct research within the areas of social identity, intergroup relations, the self, social cognition, and social rejection. Current projects include studies examining group identity conflict, collective pride, self-stereotyping in the context of interracial interactions, and barriers to social inclusion.Back to Top

Angela Pirlott, Saint Xavier UniversityAbout My Research: My research seeks to understand prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination--particularly sexual orientation prejudice--from an affordance management perspective, which suggests that prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination evolved as functional responses to perceived threats and opportunities posed by other groups--stereotypes reflect perceived threats which engage specific emotions and behaviors to mitigate such threats. Saint Xavier University is located in Chicago, IL, which would enable students to experience all Chicago has to offer--including access to faculty at other excellent universities in the area!Back to Top

Kimberly Quinn,DePaul UniversityAbout My Research: My current research takes a social-cognitive approach to studying how individuals’ representations of themselves and others shape and are shaped by interaction, and in what happens when the “other” includes the physical spaces that the individual inhabits. Behavioral synchrony, physical movement, and the natural/man-made distinction feature prominently in our work.Additional Information: Students interested in these topics would have the opportunity to learn interesting methods such as motion capture and potentially eyetracking, and would work with me, one of my PhD students, and potentially a cognitive-developmental colleague with whom we are collaborating (Sheila Krogh-Jespersen, also at DePaul). Students in my lab can't be afraid of new technology or self-directed learning, because we're learning new techniques all the time in my lab and so we're often also in the learning stage!Back to Top

Lindsey Rodriguez, University of South Florida - St. PetersburgAbout My Research: My research incorporates social cognitive and relationship theories with health psychology to focus on understanding and improving relationships, including how relationships are influenced by alcohol/other addictive behaviors, intimate partner violence, jealousy, and interpersonal perceptions. The ultimate goal is to design empirically-based interventions to help individuals struggling with relationship-related stressors. In addition to first-hand exposure to the entire research design and analysis process, professional development activities will be incorporated into the summer experience. Students will design and receive tailored feedback on developing a curriculum vitae, as well as engage in active discussion about the graduate school application process (e.g., how to search for programs and advisors, determine fit in research interests, pre-application advisor contact, personal statement development) as well as broader career development (e.g., internship and non-academic career opportunities).Additional Information: I consider mentoring high-quality undergraduates and helping them accomplish their goals (e.g., finding a program that excites them, helping them get into graduate school) a very high priority. For more information on my lab, please visit my website at http://www.usfsp.edu/psychology/rodriguez-lab/.Back to Top

Donald Saucier, Kansas State UniversityAbout My Research: My research interests center on expressions of antisocial and prosocial behavior. Specifically, I am interested in the individual differences and situational factors that contribute to the justification and suppression of antisocial behavior (e.g., prejudice, aggression), as well as to decisions to behave prosocially (e.g., to give or withhold help).Additional Information: I have an active and productive research lab that prioritizes the professional development of undergraduate and graduate students.Back to Top

Juliana Schroeder, UC BerkeleyAbout My Research: Juliana Schroeder conducts research on the experimental study of social cognition. Her research explores primarily two aspects of how people navigate their social worlds: first, how people form inferences about others' mental states and mental capacities and second, how these inferences influence their interactions. For more information, please see: www.julianaschroeder.comAdditional Information: I'm happy to mentor more than one student.Back to Top

Sawa Senzaki, University of Wisconsin-Green BayAbout My Research: At the Culture and Development Lab, we study how culturally unique perspectives develop by focusing on parent-child interaction. We currently work with infants (6-18 months) and toddlers (3-6 years) to examine cross-cultural differences in cognitive and social development. Topics include holistic-analytic attention, dialectical self, executive functions, and social evaluation.Back to Top

Jeffrey Sherman, University of California, DavisAbout My Research: My research investigates the cognitive processes underlying social psychology and behavior. In particular, I am interested in how stereotypes and prejudice affect how people perceive themselves, other people, and groups of people.Back to Top

Donna Shestowsky, UC Davis School of LawAbout My Research: My main objective is to examine assumptions underlying the structure of the legal system and to explore ways in which the system might be improved using psychological research. I am the sole PI of a project which examines how litigants evaluate legal procedures, funded by the NSF and ABA.Additional Information: I have a law degree and a PhD in Psychology, both from Stanford. I normally work with 3-5 law students and one grad student in Psychology at UC Davis. Here is more info: https://law.ucdavis.edu/faculty/shestowsky/ My research this coming year will focus on my data which compares litigants perceptions of procedures at the start of their cases with their perceptions at the end of their cases. I plan to use student to code responses to open-ended questions and help with putting together tables for publications and powerpoint presentations. They will learn about applied research in the area of social psychology.Back to Top

Natalie Shook,West Virginia UniveristyAbout My Research: The goal of my research is to understand the cognitive and affective processes underlying attitude formation and change, as well as how attitudes guide behavior. To do this, I examine attitudes across a variety of domains from emotional disorders to politics to prejudicial attitudes, and use a variety of methodologies.Back to Top

H. Colleen Sinclair,Mississippi State UniversityAbout My Research: I conduct research on the formation, maintenance, and deterioration of interpersonal relationships, broadly construed. Foci include: testing social network effects on romantic relationships, examining consequences of social rejection for anti-social vs. pro-social behavior, improving intergroup relations, & studying cross-group relationships (cross-gender friendships, inter-ethnic/inter-faith romantic relationships).Additional Information: I have a brand new, state-of-the-art, lab - the Social Relations Collaborative (www.socialrelationslab.com) - at the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University (grand opening October 21st this past semester). We have been funded by Mississippi State's Office of Research, the Center for Open Science, Psi Chi, and the Association of Psychological Science, and recently received $1.6 million from the National Institute of Justice to undertake a three-year endeavor to examine when rejection leads to aggression in high schools. We have a large productive lab through which doors approximately 200 undergraduate research assistants have passed and gone onto great things (and 26 graduate students). We changed the name of the lab to the "Collaborative" to emphasize our commitment to mentorship, cooperation, and growing scholarly relationships. We would be happy to host students over the summer as we continue to grow.Back to Top

Samuel Sommers, Tufts UniversityAbout My Research: Experimental research regarding social perception, judgment, behavior, and memory in diverse settings. Much of this work examines how people communicate, think, and interact in interracial contexts, and is motivated by the desire to advance social psychological theory, but also to conduct research with practical implications.Back to Top

Stephanie Spielmann,Wayne State UniversityAbout My Research: Research conducted in the Relationships and Individual Differences lab aims to better understand how insecurities affect feelings and behaviors within romantic relationships. Much of our research focuses on better understanding pining for ex-partners following a breakup, as well as better understanding the effects of the fear of being single.Additional Information: The city of Detroit is a great place to visit! The area around campus has many new restaurants and bars, and there is plenty to do from sporting events to the arts.

Janina Steinmetz, Utrecht UniversityAbout My Research: My research investigates how people pursue their goals with others. For example, when others observe them, people think their actions are bigger (Steinmetz et al., 2016, JPSP). How do other people affect people's thoughts and actions more generally, and is self-regulation different in the company of others versus alone?Additional Information: Utrecht University offers a large and active social psychology research environment. The university has been ranked among Europe's top university due to its great research environment. The campus is close to the historic, vibrant old town of Utrecht, about 30 minutes from Amsterdam.Back to Top

Margaret Stevenson, University of EvansvilleAbout My Research: My research interests focus on the intersection of children, psychology, and the law. Specifically, I study perceptions of children who enter the legal system, either as victims of crime or perpetrators of crime. For instance, I have explored factors (race, abuse history) that shape support for adolescent sex offender registration. I also explore factors that shape jury decision-making, broadly.Back to Top

John Tawa, Salve Regina UniversityAbout My Research: I study processes that both hinder and improve race relations, and I am particularly interested in relations between minority groups (e.g., relations between Blacks and Asians). For example, some of my research supports the idea that perceived competition for resources (e.g., educational, economic) creates greater distance between Blacks and Asians relative to both their distances towards the White majority group. However, my research also suggests that educational approaches that encourage critical thinking about concepts such as race can increase people's comfort level interacting across racial groups. While the content of my research focuses on intergroup relations, methodologically I am particularly interested in directly assessing people's "real time" behavior, in lieu of a primary reliance on self-reported behavior. I find that virtual technology is a particularly powerful medium for assessing intergroup behavior. For example, in the study described above, I had participants create self-resembling avatars and interact in social events in the virtual world Second Life. When I introduced a resource competition task in the social event, Black and Asian participants were found to increase their collective physical distance towards each other. Prospective SPUR mentees can learn more about my research, by visiting my website: thebiaslab.com.Back to Top

Jordan Troisi, Sewanee: The University of the SouthAbout My Research: I primarily research two topics. One of them is social surrogates, or non-human sources of feelings of social connection. The other is scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), which has to do with effective teaching and learning practices. More details here: http://psychology.sewanee.edu/facstaff/troisi.php.Back to Top

Jo-Ann Tsang, Baylor UniversityAbout My Research: What are the benefits and limitations of forgiveness and gratitude, and how is religiousness related to these “virtues”? Are there circumstances under which a concept like gratitude might have negative consequences? My laboratory conducts research on religiousness, forgiveness, gratitude, and the psychology of morality. Students from the SPUR program will work closely with a graduate student and myself on a number of ongoing studies in these areas. Students will assist in research design, data collection, and data analyses.Back to Top

Jay Van Bavel, New York UniversityAbout My Research: Human beings are social animals adapted for group living. Our research examines how collective concerns—ranging from our group identities to our moral values and political ideologies—can shape even the most basic elements of perception and evaluation. We believe these social dynamics are fundamental to understanding the human mind and brain. Our lab takes a social neuroscience approach to these issues, moving from the function of brain regions to large-scale collective action. It is our hope that this approach will help address a range of social issues, including implicit bias, dehumanization, cooperation, justice, partisanship, and intergroup conflict.Back to Top

Greg Walton, Stanford UniversityAbout My Research:We examine social-psychological processes that contribute to diverse social problems, and how "wise interventions" can address these problems. For instance, brief interventions to bolster students sense of belonging in the transition to college can reduce achievement gaps at institutional scale(http://collegetransitioncollaborative.org/). For more, seehttp://gregorywalton-stanford.weebly.com/Additional Information: More information regarding the CTC can be found at collegetransitioncollaborative.org Feel free to contact Ali Blodorn, the CTC’s Senior Research manager, with any questions (ablodorn@stanford.edu)Back to Top

Christian Waugh, Wake Forest UniversityAbout My Research: I investigate how people adapt successfully to stress through the flexible use of regulatory strategies. Specifically I focus on the use of positive emotions to adapt to stress and the temporal dynamics of emotional experiences. Methodologically, I investigate these topics using surveys, behavioral and physiological experiments, and functional neuroimaging. We have been very successful in mentoring summer research students in our lab over the years. There may also be opportunities to collaborate with other labs at Wake as well as with labs at Winston Salem State University.Back to Top

Oliver Wilhelm,Ulm UniversityAbout My Research: Our lab focuses on:
*Construction and evaluation of achievement, ability, and aptitude tests
*Innovative measures for student achievement
*Structure and validity of individual differences in cognitive abilities
*Multivariate methods in general, and measurement & scaling in particular
*Ability related personality constructs
*Socio-emotional abilities like emotion perception, emotion expression, personality fakingAdditional Information: While the department is based in Germany, everyone is also fluent in English, so students can work in German or English.

Wendy Wood, University of Southern CaliforniaAbout My Research: Topic: How do people form habits, and why are they so difficult to change? Students will gain research skills by working with graduate students in the lab to collect and analyze data. Students also will gain experience thinking about research questions in weekly discussion meetings with the lab. USC has summer housing on campus that would be available for students, and the university is located on a rail line that links downtown with the beach.Back to Top

Thiyagarajan Yuvaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, IndiaAbout My Research: I am doing my research on understanding the personality antecedents of internet overuse and the health consequences among the net geners in India.Back to Top

Jamil Zaki,Stanford UniversityAbout My Research: ​​Researchers at the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab study social interaction and emotion, with a special emphasis on empathy, prosocial behaviors, and social influence. We use a variety of techniques spanning neuroimaging, psychophysiology, behavioral methods, and social network analysis. We're always looking for talented and enthusiastic researchers; join us!Back to Top

Michael Zarate, UT El PasoAbout My Research: ​​We study how memory consolidation processes influence social perception. We test how experiences need time to be consolidated with existing memory structures for them to be acted upon in an implicit fashion. We are also testing cultural inertia concepts regarding how a fear of change influences attitudes towards other groups.Back to Top

Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Oakland UniversityAbout My Research: My primary research interests are in three interrelated areas: (1) dark personality features (e.g., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, spitefulness), (2) self-esteem, and (3) interpersonal relationships. Though divergent at times, these substantive areas often overlap in my research so that much of my work reflects an integration of these topics.Back to Top

Jennifer Zwolinski,University of San DiegoAbout My Research: My research examines biopsychosocial responses to social threats such as ostracism and rejection. Recently, I have been interested in the overlap between social threats and physical pain, and ways to manage those threats using social support.Additional Information: My degree is in clinical psychology but my research is more social psychological in nature.Back to Top